It’s the most hectic time of the year! For us, anyway.
Hollywood Fringe is upon us, and the show-going is already in full swing. Below you’ll find our notes on various shows, including links to full reviews of select shows in the immersive category. The post is divided into five categories:
Essential — the can’t miss shows, almost certain to be revived.
Fringe Fun — bright spots in the Fringe lineup, that will hopefully get a life post-Fringe.
Workshop Worthy — productions that show promise, but need some tooling; these are good for the curious/completists. This is the heart of Fringe.
Pass On It — what it says on the tin.
Miscategorized — good, bad, indifferent: the point is the piece is labeled “immersive” in the official Fringe Guide, but is, in fact, not.
This post evolves.
Last Updated: June 15, 2017 at 5:00PM PDT.
Essential
Red Flags
Capital W’s latest masterwork. Reviewed by Juliet Bennett Rylah. Excerpt:
Because the promotional materials of the show had led me to believe I’d be going on a “bad” date, I expected the date to crash and burn spectacularly. I expected it to be like a movie about a haunted house, where the creaks in the attic and the window that keeps opening on its own suddenly turn into a raging poltergeist that hurls me down a flight of stairs while my kitchen fills with bats. But the beauty of Red Flags is that it isn’t like that.
Sweet Dreams: The Prologue
The latest from Shine On Collective is a taste of what’s to come. Review by Noah J. Nelson.
Excerpt:
[Don’t] let the Prologue in the title keep you away from diving in to the dream. This is a highlight of this year’s Fringe, and unlike some of the others, there’s a few spots left towards the end of the run.
John Stamos Is My Baby Daddy / Rainbow Brite Power Naps
This immersive sitcom double header is a great debut work from Awkward Hug Productions. Review by Noah J. Nelson.
Excerpt:
The twofer runs a hell of a lot smoother than the vast majority of Fringe shows I’ve seen over the years, and would be a comic standout even without the immersive staging. Put those two together, and Awkward Hug Productions has leapt into being ones to watch in the months and years ahead.
A(partment 8)
The original ABC Project production takes a desrved victory lap. 2016 Review by Noah J. Nelson. Excerpt:
Annie Lesser has a small wonder on her hands, and actress Keight Leighn pretty much defines the term fearless at this point.
The Kansas Collection Chapters One & Two
The Speakeasy Society bring their spring hit to the Fringe, opening up the road to Oz. Excerpt from Noah J. Nelson’s feature on the series:
It was a mild October night when I found myself at the edge of town, chasing rumors that a band of strangers had set up colorful tents. They were luring in the curious and other unsuspecting types. Searching for people who were unsatisfied with their lot in life, and who were ready to not be in Kansas anymore.
Or so the story goes.
FRINGE FUN
Drinks With Horrible People
Notes by Noah J. Nelson
A fast-paced sketch show with a site-specific twist, Drinks With Horrible People has more than a few things going for it.
First is the nimble cast, who blast through skit after skit in a way that’s both grounded and broadly comic at the same time.
Then it’s the fact that the show is free: just grab a couple of drinks, you know?
Last, and not least, is the writing: which has some big belly laughs skewering life in present-day Los Angeles.Writers Jagger Waters and Gaston Perez have built a machine here, and co-directors Waters and Ella Pravetz use the current space smartly. While there’s one piece in this edition that stretches the credulity of the site-specific conciet, even that piece rebounds into something meant for the space. All in all this is what site-specific sketch should look like, and the best news is that Drinks With Horrible People already has a life beyond Fringe.
Kinsherf’s Coat
Notes by Noah J. Nelson
Kinsherf’s Coat is not a play, it’s a happening. A dadist experiment masqurading as a pre-show for a play that doesn’t exist. As such it is exceptionally hilarious, inasmuch as it delivers exactly what it promises: a 45 minute pre-show experience, complete with a set, pre-show lighting, music, and a playbill. Go alone and you can read the playbill and either observe other’s conversations, wondering if the people are plants or what. Head to Kinsherf’s Coat with an acquaintance and leave with a friend. Best of all, it’s free.
Filed under Cabaret & Variety, Kinsherf’s Coat belongs in the Immersive category.
The Video Games
Notes by Noah J. Nelson
Take a mess of video game characters both classic and new-fangled, put them in a shaker labeled “Hunger Games” and then shimmy. What do you have? The Video Games, a light, stage-combat fueled comedy that puts the fate of the characters into the hands of the audience.
The upside: the enthusiasm of the cast — from interactions in the queue to get in right on through to the end — is beyond infectious.
The downside: a good chunk of the fight choreography is, well, basic. That and the pacing can drag thanks to the use of Twitter as a voting mechanism. At 90 minutes, The Video Games is a half hour too long. Yet it’s still fun thanks to the awesome cast.
The show has been going on for a while now — this isn’t its first Fringe, and a production has played off-Broadway — and could use a retool that jettisons Twitter and sticks to in-house voting. The cast is such a blast, that it’s hard to not leave the house with a bounce in your step and smile on your face if you’re any kind of console jockey.
Hot Combs, Homegirls, & Homicides
Notes by Noah J. Nelson
This fun sketch comedy show helmed by writer-director Nina Childs doesn’t go all-in on immersion, but uses a few participatory flourishes that go slightly beyond the simple breaking of the fourth wall. In other words: if you’re only here for in-depth dives into first-person narratives or environmentally staged then Hot Combs won’t have much appeal.
If you’re down to laugh, however, the mega-talented cast is ready to deliver. There’s a lot of fun to be had as the all-female cast of sketch comedians really brings it.
WORKSHOP WORTHY
Quantum Entanglement
Notes by Noah J. Nelson
Playwright Katelyn Schiller and director Shane Wood didn’t put this piece about “the most romantic theory in physics” into the Immersive category, but immersive fans will find fun and glimmers of what could be if this team runs headlong into the zone.
Schiller’s gorgeous language gives this deeply personal work a solid heft, and there are some limited particpatory touch points that aren’t required for the piece, but give it something a little extra. Fringe is good herald of voices to watch out for, and Schiller is definitely in that camp. If you’re looking to expand your Fringe-going horizons past a pure immersive play, Quantum Entanglement is worth the time.
Dark Arts
An immersive hybrid from Fringe vet Lawrence Meyers. Reviewed by Noah J. Nelson. Excerpt:
This is, however, what Fringe is for: taking big bets and seeing where the chips fall. You have to hand it to Meyers for not just playing it safe and making a House of Cards knockoff on a unit set.
The Rise and Fall of Dracula
The debut work of Cadame Co. is a dance-theatre riff on the legened. Reviewed by Juliet Bennett Rylah. Excerpt:
Much of the vampirism and combat is expressed through dance, and much of the gore is left to the imagination. Occasionally, the choreography is too large for the relatively small spaces it is confined to, meaning actors come uncomfortably close, but not necessarily on purpose. It’d be nice to see the actors work with the material in larger spaces, or perhaps spaces with fewer guests, that allow more range of motion.
Fallen Stars at the Charity Sale
A theatrical/larp hybrid. Reviewed by Noah J. Nelson. Excerpt:
Two structural variables make Fallen Stars different every time. One is a boon, the other a curse that threatens to derail the show every time it is run.
Update: Director Aaron Vanek has heard our feedback, and is making adjustments to the show. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what Fringe is all about.
PASS ON IT
Watch this space.
MISCATEGORIZED
The Imp and The Troll
Notes by Noah J. Nelson
Let’s cut right to it: theatre in the round is not immersive. Breaking the fourth wall for a speech is not immersive. Randomly touching audience members for reasons that don’t move the story along is just, well, one word is “rude” another is “wha?”
This play had one thing going for it: a kickass amont of fog effects at the start. But that fog disappated, and as it did so did any hope of it being interesting. The company behind this claims to make immersive and interactive theatre, but this isn’t that. PASS ON IT.
Monsters
Notes by Noah J. Nelson
We left Monsters out of our Fringe Guide, despite it being categorized in the offical Fringe Guide, on the suspicion that it was an ensemble piece that did a little breaking of the fourth wall and maybe some staging that involved the house. We went to see Monsters in hopes we were wrong. We weren’t. It’s also not very good. It is, however, shorter than the stated one hour length. So at least there’s that. PASS ON IT.
Dead Air
Notes by Noah J. Nelson
Going in I suspected that Dead Air had miscategorized itself. When I checked in with the creators about how their piece was immersive, they basically described a soliloquy. We try not to get bent out of shape about such things, but it’s kind of our mission to promote immersive theatre — not just any theatre that calls itself immersive. Besides, with a name like H&H Design Experience, maybe the producers were just not great at articulating what was immersive about their show.
With that in mind I kept Dead Air out of our Fringe guide, and spent my own money on a ticket — as opposed to accepting a press comp — hoping that I’d be proven wrong. A courtesy I didn’t extend to Monsters.
I wasn’t. Also: it’s not very good. And is accidentally racist at least once. Which is a shame, because there’s a lot of people of color in the cast. More than a lot of Fringe shows, anyway. There are extensive notes that could be given, but at the end of the day this show isn’t really salvageable as is. PASS ON IT.
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